Smoke (The Carelli Family Saga #1) - Eden Butler Page 0,40

second, I reminded myself of the worry and fear that had kept me from wanting a normal life. “When did this happen?”

Maggie looked out on the water, her arms folded across her chest, chin lifted. “The…the night Dino was shot. It’s why I went to see you. Antonia told me…” I made a noise, releasing something filthy under my breath, and Maggie glared at me.

“Fucking Toni…”

“She was trying to help me…”

“Madonna…” I rubbed my face, the pulse in my neck ticking faster and faster the harder I looked at her. Maggie knelt down, reaching out to brush clean Mateo’s face as he pulled on one of the knots in the rope tying the canoe to the post. “Who was this guy?”

She exhaled, dipping her head. “John Reynolds. He worked with Alejandro.” She glanced at me, her expression tight. “My ex-husband.” When she nodded toward the baby, I understood and some of my anger deflated. “I was worried he’d see me and tell him where I was. I got scared.”

I could understand that fear, but not her lapse in logic. “Explain to me how I’m supposed to have your back if you don’t tell me when some fucker that knows your husband comes into the restaurant.” I took a step when she opened her mouth, looking ready to make an excuse, but I didn’t want to hear one. “For the life of me, I don’t get how the hell you think I’m supposed to take care of this situation if you keep it to yourself.”

“You’re not,” she said, moving her chin up.

So damn defiant.

“I’m…what?”

“It wasn’t your situation to handle. It was mine.”

I moved closer, jerking my hand out of my pocket to run my fingers through my hair. “Your solution was to come to me because you were scared. I’m right about that?” She didn’t answer but didn’t look away from me either. “You came to me because my kid sister told you that was the best place for you. And you listened. So if that wasn’t my situation to handle, why the fuck did you bother coming to me at all?”

“I…needed somewhere to…go.”

“You couldn’t go home?”

Again, Maggie opened her mouth, but remained silent.

“So, you’re saying I was good enough to fuck but not good enough to protect you?”

“No.” She swallowed, those big, black eyes shifting, her gaze moving over my face as she stood, her lips tight, frowning. “No…but you…I was going to tell you… after but…” I moved forward, forgetting my anger just for a second as Maggie blinked, moving her eyes to my mouth. “Afterward …there…wasn’t time.”

“Bella…” I touched her cheek and Maggie relaxed, moving toward my fingers as I held her face between my palms. “You have to let me protect you.” I pushed my forehead to hers, inhaling her sweet scent. “This only works if you let me protect you.”

“And what about you?” she said, tilting her head. When I squinted at her, confused, she lifted my hand, pointing at my knuckles still bruised from the beating I’d given Finney’s man. “Is this how you’re gonna protect us?”

“Yes,” I said, not hesitating. When Maggie’s expression dropped, her mouth opening, I grabbed her face, holding it between my fingers. “I don’t know any other way and I’ve never done this before. You. Me…” I glanced at the kid, then back to her. “Us. Tell me you wouldn’t kill for him. What person on this planet wouldn’t kill to protect the people they love?”

Maggie waited a long time before she answered. There was a look that passed in her eyes, too much I couldn’t get a read on before she nodded, seeming to understand me at least a little bit.

“I’d do anything for him.”

“And I’d do anything for you both, but you have to tell me when there’s a threat coming for us. Bella, I have to be prepared for it.”

She nodded, pushing her eyebrows together.

“Promise me.”

“I promise, sweetie. I won’t keep anything else from you.”

I hoped like hell she meant it.

Two days passed before we got back into our groove, and I spent that time trying to get an angle on this Reynolds asshole. But there was no intel that linked him to Maggie, at least nothing concrete. There was, however, a flower delivery that came to her apartment when I was in Edgemont with Dino, something that irritated me to discover she hadn’t told me about until I texted her.

Smoke: You got flowers and didn’t tell me?

Maggie: I thought if they weren’t from you, they might